ANOTHER week, another cause for David Moyes to try and bite his lip about referees. The extent to which Everton’s progress this season has been hampered by blundering officials has been well chronicled.

In truth, it’s a wonder all that lip-biting by the Scot hasn’t drawn blood yet – but he remains keen to try and refrain from pouring scorn on the men in the middle, even if they are a depressingly persistent talking point.

The latest potential boiling point came at Upton Park on Saturday when ref Anthony Taylor disallowed Leon Osman’s legitimate goal early in the first half, then dismissed Darron Gibson on dubious grounds near the end.

Gibson can line-up against Wigan at Goodison today by virtue of the FA appeal process which means any potential three-game ban for a supposedly high-foot on the Hammers’ Mark Noble will be decided later this week.

But Moyes still hopes his side’s luck with officialdom can begin to turn, starting with their clash against Roberto Martinez’s men this afternoon.

“I think we’ve had a raw deal, I really do but you get a little bit fed up beating the drum and I don’t want to be someone who lambasts referees,” he says.

“I think it’s a hard job they’ve got but I think that we’ve had a really tough time with it. Disappointingly most weeks we’re having to talk about decisions which I don’t think we would like to do.

“There have been quite a lot of disappointing incidents this season and I think that must be a concern for the people who are in charge.

“I don’t think any manager would really want to be coming out and being critical of referees.

“It’s something that maybe the head of the referees need to look at and see what they can do to make it better.”

Moyes is reluctant to pick over the bones of Taylor’s shocking performance at Upton Park, but he concedes the Wythenshawe official could have given himself more time to consider both red cards.

“I just felt that maybe he just caught up very quickly and made a very quick decision when he could maybe have given himself a little bit more of a pause and time to think about it,” says the Blues boss.

“But I’m not a person who trains referees or tells them how to do their job so you have to get that from their advisors.”

Everton were initially incensed in East London when Leon Osman’s legitimate goal was ruled out for what the assistant referee deemed as Victor Anichebe’s obstruction on Hammers keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

It could have proved a costly set-back, especially when the hosts took the lead before the break and Moyes admits that irked him most.

“The assistant gave it and that’s why we were angry,” he says. “That aggravated me more than anything and I know that the two sending offs were really poor but I felt the goal was something that really mattered to us at the time and it could have had a big effect on the game for us and luckily in the end it didn’t.

“Sam (Allardyce) thought that the Carlton Cole sending off had a big effect for them (West Ham) but I thought us not getting the goal had a big effect on us, so that was disappointing.”

Anichebe was involved in a more positive sense when he restored parity with an impressive header, and Moyes is glad to have the powerful Nigerian international back in his ranks.

“We’ve missed him and Kevin Mirallas and probably not had the two of

them for two months at least, and eight or 10 games, maybe more,” says Moyes.

“It’s meant that we’ve been limited in our attacking options and it might be part of the reason we’ve not won as many games as we should have because we’ve not had the ability to make changes or go with a different attacking style in the games.

“But Victor is someone who I think is a good player. He needs a bit of self-confidence and he needs to be fitter more regular.

“If he is I think he can have a contribution and he should be maturing now and getting to a level where he realises he can be part of the team.

“He can play two or three roles for me. He can play through the middle like he did at West Ham or I can drift him off the sides at time so he gives me that little bit of versatility at times and not having him had meant we’ve been limited in what we’ve been able to do.”

Moyes is unsure whether he will be able to call on Seamus Coleman today after the defender missed out against West Ham with a hamstring problem, meaning Phil Jagielka may remain at right-back.

That would ensure John Heitinga continues in the side, and Moyes has challenged the Dutch defender to improve on a below par display in the capital.

“It’s no different for any player, if you’re a centre-half or a centre-forward you have to be ready when your opportunity arises so he would be disappointed, and rightly so, for not doing better with the goal but he’s an experienced player, he’s played loads of games and he’s someone who knows,” says Moyes.